Fantasy Golf Sleeper Report – 2022 RSM Classic

2022 RSM Classic Fantasy Sleeper Report

You wait for five years for a PGA TOUR win to come along, and then three appear in quick succession!

Whatever has clicked for Tony Finau should be bottled and sold in stores, because he has gone from talented underachiever to bona fide stud in the blink of an eye.

Finau has now won three PGA TOUR events in his last seven outings, with victory at the Houston Open his most comprehensive yet.

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Heading into the back nine on Sunday, Finau led the field by eight strokes – it’s the rarest of animals these days for a player to effectively lap the rest. But that’s how good Tony was, delivering a performance of mind-boggling statistics in which he eld pretty much any metric of significance.

You can tell the good vibes are flowing in the Finau camp now because he’s even agreed to make the trip to St. Simons Island, our host this week for the RSM Classic.

Our two courses, Seaside and Plantation, at the Sea Island resort are both short, tight and battered by ocean winds, so it’s not the ideal trip for anyone other than plotters, plotters and gnarled veterans.

But Finau fancies the gig – more power to him, and he’ll be taking on fellow recent TOUR winners such as Seamus Power and MacKenzie Hughes, as well as the likes of Kevin Kisner, Justin Rose and Jason Day. It’s not the strongest field in the world, and an event that has been won by Robert Streb (350/1), Tyler Duncan (150/1) and Austin Cook (90/1) in recent times reveals just how unpredictable things are on the island.

The wind will be a major factor, as will cool temperatures and some rather slick greens on the Seaside course, which hosts 54 of the 72 holes to be played by the field. Although large in stature, these Bermuda surfaces are undulating and quick, and this is where the tournament will be won or lost you fancy.

Given the nature of the past winners, you might be well served sticking all of the players’ names in a pinata, bashing it with a three-wood and then backing who drops out first. However, in the spirit of ending the Fall season on a high, here’s our five sleeper picks for the RSM Classic.

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Justin Rose – 50/1 – The Seaside course at Sea Island is an ideal venue for Justin Rose, and so its perhaps something of a surprise he hasn’t played here more. His only two trips in the past decade came in 2020 and 2021, in which he missed a cut before finishing T12 a year ago.

Although he hasn’t been that active later, it was classic Rose at Memorial Park where he was excellent with his first shot and on the greens – ranking ninth and seventh respectively for Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee and Putting.

That’s long been his secret sauce, and Rose’s suspect chipping perhaps won’t be tested so much on Sea Island, where the GIR count is usually nice and high. If he gets his ball to the green in good order, Rose is putting as well as anyone right now.

Matt Kuchar – 50/1 – Kuchar has looked the part this season without really breaking through – three top-30s in as many starts, headlined by T12 at the Fortinet Championship, the sum of his efforts.

But you would think these Sea Island tests are perfect for his short and accurate game, and an intriguing record here – Kooch has made the cut in 6/8, but only recorded one top-10 with three other top-30s – offers scope for improvement.

Weirdly, it’s putting which is letting Kuchar down at the moment, and historically that has been one of the strongest facets of his game. If he has found a solution since Mayakoba, he could be a force to be reckoned with on St. Simons Island.

J.J. Spaun – 60/1 – If J.J. Spaun is to add to his sole PGA TOUR title, he will need to putt above his baseline performance and to some tune.

Good news: he’s been solid with the flat stick in three of his last four starts, and good memories on Sea Island – he was T2 here back in 2017 – might just give Spaun the confidence to take that on to the next level.

We know his ball-striking is consistent and reliable – you have to go back to the Wyndham Championship, eight starts ago, for his last missed cut, and with eleven of his last sixteen rounds played in the 60s, Spaun is evidently in the kind of form to go close to winning once more.

T15 at the correlating Mayakoba a fortnight ago is a handy marker of what might follow….

Andrew Putnam – 66/1 – One of the busiest players on TOUR so far this season, Andrew Putnam is making his hard work pay.

He’s finished no lower than T48 in any of those starts, and T2 at the ZOZO Championship and T12 at Shriners confirm his current bullishness.

Even T35 at the super-long Memorial Park last week – Putnam averages around 282 yar4ds off the tee, remember – is symptomatic of his confidence, and on a much shorter assignment this week, where his reliable flat stick can yield full value, he has to be chanced. 

David Lipsky – 90/1 – For the past few weeks, David Lipsky has been gaining shots on the field off the tee – thanks largely to his accuracy – and on the greens, which are both very useful assets on St. Simons Island.

T10 at Mayakoba was followed by T22 at the Houston Open, and for a player who ranks 70th for SG: Tee-to-Green but 194th for Putting, recent developments make for interesting reading.

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Want more of this week’s fantasy predictions? Check out our full fantasy preview for the RSM Classic here.

Sleeper Report Predictions Last Season (2021-2022)

[skill_bar heading=”Total Top 3s” percent=”0%” bar_text=”0 out of 40 picks” style=”background-color: #5fb341″][skill_bar heading=”Total Top 10s” percent= “7.50%” bar_text=”3 out of 40 picks” style=”background-color: #5fb341″][skill_bar heading=”Total Top 25s” percent=”17.50%” bar_text=”7 out of 40 picks” style=”background-color: #5fb341″][skill_bar heading=”Total Winners Picked” percent=”0%” bar_text=”0 out of 8 events” style=”background-color: #5fb341″][skill_bar heading=”Total Runners-Up Picked” percent=”2.44%” bar_text=”0 out of 8 events” style=”background-color: #5fb341″][skill_bar heading=”Total Made Cuts (Includes Sleepers)” percent=”36.67%” bar_text=”15 out of 40 picks” style=”background-color: #5fb341″]

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Cover photo via Instagram